The Long (and Longer and Longer) Day
by DinerGuy
Summary: You only live once, but someone might want to try explaining that to Shawn Spencer.
1. Chapter 1

This was written for Syncop8ed Rhythm as part of this year's Secret Santa Fic Exchange.

Nothing Psych belongs to me. Neither do any of the other shows of which I make mention, nor does Netflix. No profit is being made and no copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

Shawn was sleeping quite soundly. That is, he was until the insistent vibrating of his phone against the nightstand woke him up.

He blinked groggily, reaching a hand over to blindly grope for the offending device. The phone had moved across the hard surface as it buzzed, and only the shirt that Shawn had left half-hanging off the small table the night before had saved the device from landing on the floor.

The display declared Gus was calling, and Shawn dragged his finger across the bottom of the screen to answer. "'lo?"

"Shawn!" Gus sounded upset. "Where are you?"

"My bed."

"I thought you and I agreed to meet at the Psych office at nine this morning so we could go over the case!"

Shawn rolled over and sat up, holding the phone to his ear as he swung his feet over the side of the mattress. "What time is it?"

"What time- Shawn, it's nearly 9:30!"

"Only 9:30?" Shawn laughed, looking around for the pants he'd worn the day before. "The way you were acting, I'd have thought it was at least ten."

Gus made a noise of annoyance. "If I'm going to give up my Saturday morning, you are most certainly going to be here with me. Why aren't you here anyway? Didn't you set your alarm?"

Shawn tucked the phone between his chin and shoulder as he looked under his bed. "Sorry, Gus, I must have forgotten. They added new episodes of _Sherlock_ to Netflix," he reasoned. There were no pants under the bed, but he did spot his Converse, which he pulled out as he continued, "and I might have stayed up a little later than I planned to. You know I can't resist Martin Freeman's face."

"And you didn't invite me over?" Gus exclaimed. "But whatever, Shawn. We have work to do, or have you forgotten our agreement to help the SBPD _solve cases_?"

"Please. How could I forget that, Gus?" Shawn finally spotted his jeans next to his door and moved to snag them as well. "Besides, I already figured out who did it."

"You _what_? And it didn't occur to you to let me know this sooner?" Gus sounded intrigued, if a little perturbed as well.

"Yeah!" Shawn exclaimed, attempting to maneuver a t-shirt over his head as he continued his conversation. He finally gave up and put the phone on speaker, setting it on the bed as he pulled the shirt on. "Remember how we talked to the boyfriend, Thomas Jefferson or whatever his name was, and he said he was at work that night?"

"Thomas Jeffreys. And yeah," Gus's voice sounded slightly distorted as it came through the speaker, "the manager confirmed it."

"Ah but wait until you find out what I found out!" Shawn declared, digging in one of his drawers for a pair of socks. "Before my impromptu marathon last night, I went by the convenience store where Jeffreys works to talk with the guy who had worked with him that night, Marco Gutierrez, but they said he was on break. Which got me thinking. We looked into Jeffreys and where he was that night, but what about Marco?"

"The coworker?" Gus asked. "What would he have to do with anything?"

"Think about it, Gus! What if Jeffreys didn't kill his girlfriend but the coworker did?" Shawn asked excitedly, hopping on one foot as he pulled on his socks and shoes. "We know Jeffreys and his coworker were good friends, so what if Jeffreys got Marco to do the crime for him? It would be the perfect arrangement; the cameras keep track of Jeffreys' night at work while the actual killer goes on break and does the crime, then comes back?"

"That actually makes sense…" Gus trailed off. "Do you know what time he went on break that night?"

"Yup," Shawn grinned. "The girl behind the counter couldn't resist my charms and looked it up for me."

"Shawn…" Gus sounded dubious.

"Well, she couldn't! Either way, he took his thirty minute break right during the time someone shot Melissa Douglas." Shawn grabbed the shirt off his nightstand and buttoned it over his Apple Jacks t-shirt. "It's perfect!"

"Okay then," Gus said slowly, and Shawn could imagine him thinking over the information. "We need to let Lassiter and Juliet know."

"Meet you at the police station!" Shawn grabbed his phone off the bed, ended the call, and hurried for the door, tucking the device in his pocket as he did so.

* * *

Within fifteen minutes of their phone conversation, Shawn and Gus were walking into the Santa Barbara police station together.

"Gus, please, can we get off the topic of my not being at the office this morning?"

"Spencer, this had better be good!" Lassiter snapped, looking up from his computer as he heard the two approaching. "I have better things to be doing with my morning, or haven't you heard there's a murderer on the loose? McNab!" he called to someone out of sight. "Where's that coffee?"

"Aw, come on, Lassie, you can't be that unhappy to see me." Shawn grinned mischievously.

"Gus said you'd had a vision?" Juliet prompted.

"Gus! You told?" Shawn asked, giving his friend an offended look.

Gus crossed his arms. "Of course I did. I wanted to make sure they would be here so you could tell them what you'd found out."

"Oh," Shawn paused. "That actually makes sense."

"Spencer!" Lassiter interrupted.

"Okay, okay." Shawn held up both hands in mock surrender then suddenly clapped a hand to his head. "Oh! Oh! I'm getting something, guys! I'm getting something! I'm getting... I'm getting..."

"Well I'll tell you what you're not getting. Younger," Lassiter remarked, rolling his eyes. "Can't you just tell us what you see and not jump through all these hoops first?"

"I do what the spirits tell me to do, Lassie!" Shawn exclaimed from where he had thrown himself to the floor.

"Then can they tell you to hurry it up?"

Juliet was watching Shawn with a little more interest than her partner. "Are they telling you who killed Melissa Douglas?"

"Melissa Douglas!" Shawn yelped, jerking a little on the floor. "Yes! Yes! I see... I see a man with a gun!"

"Well we knew that much, Spencer," Lassiter muttered.

"But you don't know which man that was!"

Lassiter crossed his arms. "Spencer, stop yelling and get off the floor. I have work to do."

"Polo!" Shawn exclaimed, sitting up suddenly.

"What?" the other three asked at the same time.

"No, wait. Marco! Marco wasn't playing polo; he was killing his friend's girlfriend!" Shawn stood and flashed a smile at Juliet. He swung an arm towards Gus, planning to go into more details about the solution to the case.

Gus involuntarily stepped backwards as Shawn's arm came at his face, just as McNab hurried up to the group, carefully balancing a cup filled to the brim with steaming coffee.

"Here's your coffee, Det-" That was as far as the rookie got before he collided with Gus.

The cup of coffee became unbalanced and, before anyone could catch it, spilled down the back of Gus' shirt as the two men went down in a tangle of arms and legs.

"I'm going to kill you, Shawn!" Gus' voice came from under McNab as the officer scrambled to his feet.

McNab offered a hand to help Gus up. "I'm so sorry, Gus; are you okay?"

"Are you all right?" Juliet looked just as worried as McNab.

Lassiter, however, was glaring at Shawn harder than he had been a moment before. "Spencer, that was a perfectly good cup of coffee that you just spilled. Now you had better tell us what you came to tell us and get out of the station."

"You owe me a new shirt, Shawn!" Gus interjected. "And I think I'm already getting blisters; I have very sensitive skin!"

"Fine." Shawn didn't look very happy, but he continued, "I am getting a very strong feeling that if you look into the boyfriend's coworker, you will find he left on a break, killed Melissa Douglas, and came back like nothing had happened."

Juliet's eyebrows rose as Shawn continued, "And if you look at the security footage from the convenience store, you'll notice that our dear Marco just happened to change his shirt on break. He leaves in one and comes back in another. It's just hard to tell because they both look similar."

"I think we have some stills from the cameras," Juliet offered, digging through a stack of papers on her desk until she came to the file for which she was looking. After a moment, she looked up. "You're right, Shawn," she said, turning the file towards the others.

"Dude, I was right!" Shawn whispered, offering his fist to Gus behind Juliet's back.

Lassiter reached for the two photographs on the top of the stack and studied the shots. "Let's go, O'Hara. I want to ask this guy some questions." Without another word to Shawn or Gus, he headed for the door.

"Thanks, Shawn," Juliet acknowledged before hurrying after her partner.

"Well, come on, Gus!" Shawn exclaimed. "We can't miss out!"

Gus followed much more reluctantly. "Shawn, shouldn't we just let Lassiter and Juliet take care of this?"

"Gus, don't be the last piece of apple pie the day after Thanksgiving. What fun would it be if we let them do it all by themselves?" Shawn grinned. "Now come on; I'll race you!"

* * *

"Spencer!" Lassiter barked as the two consultants climbed out of Gus' little blue car. "I don't remember asking you to follow us here."

Shawn shook his head. "You didn't have to ask, Lassie. I could see it in your eyes. Besides," he continued as Gus elbowed him in the ribs, "I might have another vision or something, and it's much easier if I'm right here with you."

"Shawn, we just don't want you to get hurt," Juliet reasoned.

"Why would you think I would get hurt?" Shawn asked. "You and Lassie will both be there and it's not like we're in some dark alley. We're at the guy's work!"

Lassiter rolled his eyes. "Just stay here, all right, Spencer?" Before Shawn could respond, the head detective started across the parking lot towards the store entrance.

"Really, Shawn, stay out of the way," Juliet added quickly, following Lassiter.

Frowning, Shawn crossed his arms. "Why do we have to miss out on all the fun, Gus? We told them to come here - well, I did; you just came along for the ride - but I think that should at least entitle us to be in on the whole thing!"

"Uh-uh," Gus shook his head. "They know what they're doing, Shawn, and I would prefer not to put myself in any unnecessary danger just to watch Lassiter and Juliet arrest a guy."

"But that's half the fun of it," Shawn complained. "The watching Lassie and Jules arrest a guy part, not the danger part," he added when Gus glared at him. "Hey!" he exclaimed a moment later as a red car pulled into the parking lot.

"What?" Gus looked around.

"That's Marco!" Shawn was trying not to point at the man's car and had settled instead for jerking his head towards where the man had pulled into a parking space at the far end of the small lot. "I bet Lassie and Jules come out waving their guns in a minute," he told Gus.

For his part, Gus had stepped to the other side of the blue car, putting it between himself and Marco, who was stepping casually out of his own car. "Shawn, get down!" he hissed. "I am not watching you get shot again!"

"Technically you didn't watch me get shot," Shawn corrected. "I got shot by myself because you wouldn't wake up to answer my call that night."

Gus rolled his eyes. "I am not doing this with you right now!"

"Come on, Gus; he doesn't even know who we are," Shawn reasoned, watching Marco start across the parking lot.

"And I'd like to keep it that way," Gus shot back.

Marco was passing them now, and Shawn offered a casual wave and a smile. Gus ducked farther behind the car, trying to stay out of sight, but the other man didn't give them more than a quick glance.

Just then, the door to the convenience store swung open and the two detectives exited the small building.

Marco froze as his gaze met Lassiter's, and he spun quickly, making his way back across the parking lot faster than anyone had expected. It wasn't the largest parking lot to begin with, and the man was at his car almost as soon as Lassiter and Juliet had pulled their weapons.

"Marco Gutierrez!" Lassiter bellowed. "SBPD! We need to ask you a few questions!"

Shawn could barely see Marco's head through the window of the car, but he could tell the man was looking for something.

"Oh yeah?" Marco yelled back. "You did that already!"

"You're only making things harder for yourself!" Lassiter shouted. "Just come with us so we can talk to you!"

"Not a chance!" Marco replied. He stood up behind the shelter of his car, and Shawn could see what he had been trying to find. A black handgun was tightly clenched in his hands. "No chance you're just going to leave me alone, right?"

"Like he's going to shoot anyone," Shawn scoffed. "Not from that distance."

"Shawn, get down!" Gus insisted. "Who cares about analyzing his shooting skills?"

"Put down the gun!" Lassiter commanded.

"Seriously, though," Shawn wasn't listening. "He shot Melissa Douglas at close range. From that far, he'll be lucky to hit anything, much less his target." He cocked his head. "Though you might want to move, Gus. There's a chance a stray bullet could hit that side of the Blueberry."

Before Gus had a chance to respond, Marco shouted his reply to the detective.

"I'd rather take my chances!" the man called. And then he pulled the trigger.

Two things happened in the next second. One, Lassiter and Juliet immediately fired in response to Marco's shot. And two, Shawn felt a searing pain in his abdomen.

Accompanying the pain was a force that pushed him back onto the asphalt, and he suddenly found himself blinking up at the sky.

Somewhere in the distance, he thought he heard several more gunshots and a cry of pain from Marco. The sound of running feet pounding the pavement reached his ears, then Gus' face suddenly appeared in his line of sight.

"Shawn!" Gus put a hand to Shawn's face. "Talk to me, buddy!"

Shawn blinked, trying to focus past the fire in his stomach. He managed to grin up at Gus, even though it hurt terribly. "Gus..."

"No, Shawn, don't talk." Gus looked away from Shawn's face for a moment, down towards where Shawn had his hands clenched over his midsection, then swallowed hard and looked back into his friend's eyes. "Juliet's calling for help."

Shawn chuckled, then coughed, wincing at the pain that shot through his entire body. "Good... to hear that." He could feel something wet seeping through his fingers. "Gus..."

"Shawn, you're going to be fine," Gus interrupted. "Now lie still."

Things suddenly tilted and spun around him, and Shawn blinked furiously. "Gus?"

His friend's face was weaving in and out of focus. "Shawn? Shawn!"

Shawn wanted to answer, really he did, but for some reason, his body refused to cooperate. And the more he tried, the more he felt like he was made out of stone.

"Gus..." he finally managed, just as everything went dark.


	2. Chapter 2

The insistent noise of a phone vibrating against a hard surface jolted Shawn out of the darkness.

He blinked groggily, reaching a hand over to blindly grope for the offending device. The phone had moved across the hard surface as it buzzed, and only Shawn's shirt had saved it from landing on the floor.

As his sleep-muddled brain started to clear, the memories hit him like a sledgehammer, and Shawn sat bolt upright in bed. The phone continued to vibrate in his hand, but he ignored it. He rubbed a hand across his stomach, prodding for any pain or wetness. When he felt none, he lifted his t-shirt up a few inches, staring blankly at his wound-free stomach.

The phone in his hand stilled as Shawn cocked his head to the side. He might have to lay off the leftover pineapple pizza before bed from now on, because he was quite sure he didn't want to ever experience that sort of dream again.

He jumped as his phone began vibrating again. The screen declared that Gus was calling, and Shawn quickly dragged his finger across the bottom of the screen to answer. "Gus! You won't believe the dream I had last night!"

"Shawn!" Gus sounded upset. "Where are you?"

"Where are you?" Shawn ran a hand through his hair and across his face just to make sure he wasn't still imagining things.

"Don't repeat everything I say. I thought you and I agreed to meet at the Psych office at nine this morning so we could go over the case!"

"Um... this morning?"

"Yes this morning!" Gus now sounded even more upset. "You didn't just wake up, did you?"

"Maybe," Shawn replied distractedly, looking around for his jeans from the day before. He blinked as he noticed them beside the door, in exactly the same place as he had dreamed they were. "Hey, what time is it?"

"What time- Shawn, it's nearly 9:30!"

"Only 9:30?" Shawn laughed, trying to forget the images still in his head from his dream. "The way you were acting, I'd have thought it was at least ten."

Gus made a noise of annoyance. "If I'm going to give up my Saturday morning, you are most certainly going to be here with me. Why aren't you here anyway? Didn't you set your alarm?"

Shawn tucked the phone between his chin and shoulder as he looked under his bed. "Sorry, Gus, I must have forgotten. They added new episodes of _Sherlock_ to Netflix," he reasoned. There were his Converse, also in the same place he had dreamed. He pulled them out as he continued, "You know I can't resist Martin Freeman's face."

"And you didn't invite me over?" Gus exclaimed. "But whatever, Shawn. We have work to do, or have you forgotten our agreement to help the SBPD _solve cases_?"

Shawn blinked. This conversation contained too much deja vu for his comfort. "Don't worry, Gus, I didn't forget. Anyway, I already figured out who did it." _Ha, take that, creepy dream_, he thought to himself. _Not everything has to happen the same way._

"You _what_? And it didn't occur to you to let me know sooner?" Gus sounded both intrigued and perturbed.

"I did!" Shawn set the phone on speaker before attempting to pull his shirt on, setting it on the bed as he continued. "The boyfriend was at work all night, right?"

"Yeah," Gus's voice sounded slightly distorted as it came through the speaker, "his coworker confirmed it."

"Listen to this though!" Shawn declared, digging in one of his drawers for a pair of socks. "Before my impromptu marathon last night, I went by the convenience store to talk to the guy who had worked with Jeffreys that night, Marco Gutierrez, but they said he was on break. Which got me thinking. We looked into Jeffreys and where he was that night, but what about the coworker?"

"The coworker?" Gus asked. "What would he have to do with anything?"

"Think about it, Gus! What if Jeffreys didn't kill his girlfriend?" Shawn asked excitedly, hopping on one foot as he pulled on his socks and shoes. "We know they were good friends, so what if Jeffreys got Marco to do the crime for him? It would be the perfect arrangement; the cameras keep track of Jeffreys' night at work while the actual killer goes on break and does the crime, then comes back?"

"That actually makes sense…" Gus trailed off. "Do you know what time he went on break that night?"

"Yup," Shawn grinned. "The girl behind the counter couldn't resist my charms and looked it up for me..." He trailed off; they were doing it again. This was exactly what he had dreamed, and it was getting just a little weird.

"Marco took his thirty minute break right during the time someone shot Melissa Douglas." Shawn grabbed the shirt off his nightstand. "He would have had just enough time to pull off the deed and get back without being missed!"

"Okay then," Gus said slowly, and Shawn could imagine him thinking over the information. "We need to let Lassiter and Juliet know."

"Already on it!" Shawn exclaimed excitedly. "Get to the police station pronto!"

* * *

Within fifteen minutes of their phone conversation, Shawn and Gus were walking into the Santa Barbara police station together.

"Gus, please, can we get off the topic of my not being at the office this morning?" Shawn asked, throwing his hands in the air. "I will do my best not to have any weird dreams and oversleep next time you want me to solve a case, okay?"

"Spencer, this had better be good!" Lassiter snapped, looking up from his computer as he heard the two approaching. "I have better things to be doing with my morning, or haven't you heard there's a murderer on the loose? McNab!" he called to someone out of sight. "Where's that coffee?"

Shawn's eyebrows rose. Again, this was happening exactly like in his dream. Maybe he really was a psychic now... somehow. "Aw, come on, Lassie, you can't be that unhappy to see me." He grinned mischievously.

"Gus said you'd had a vision?" Juliet prompted, walking up to join the group.

"Gus! You told?" Shawn asked, shooting his friend an offended look.

Gus crossed his arms. "Of course I did. I wanted to make sure they would be here so you could tell them what you'd found out."

"All right, all right, I'll tell you." Shawn held up both hands in mock surrender then suddenly clapped a hand to his head. If nothing else, his dream had given him a good way to enact his 'vision.' "Oh! Oh! I'm getting something, guys! I'm getting something! I'm getting... I'm getting..."

"Well you're not getting any younger," Lassiter remarked, rolling his eyes. "Can't you just tell us what you see and not jump through all these hoops first?"

Shawn yelped, jerking a little on the floor. "I see... I see a man with a gun! And Melissa Douglas!"

"Melissa Douglas? The murder victim?" Juliet looked interested.

Lassiter crossed his arms. "Spencer, stop yelling and get off the floor. I have work to do."

"Polo!" Shawn exclaimed, ignoring Lassiter.

"What?" the other three asked at the same time.

"No, wait. Marco! Marco wasn't playing polo; he was killing his friend's girlfriend!" Shawn stood and flashed a smile at Juliet. He swung an arm towards Gus, planning to go into more details about the solution to the case.

Shawn's motion caused Gus to step backwards, right into the path of McNab, who was hurrying up to the group with a full cup of coffee in hand.

"Here's your coffee, Det-" That was as far as the rookie got before he collided with Gus.

Before anyone could move to stop it, the cup of coffee spilled down the back of Gus' shirt and the two men went down in a tangle of arms and legs.

Shawn blinked. Again, things were playing out exactly as they had in his dream the night before, and he was starting to get a little weirded out by it all.

"I'm going to kill you, Shawn!" Gus' voice came from under McNab as the officer scrambled to his feet.

McNab offered a hand to help Gus up. "I'm so sorry, Gus; are you okay?"

"Spencer, that was a perfectly good cup of coffee that you just spilled," Lassiter snapped, glaring at Shawn. "Now you had better tell us what you came to tell us and get out of the station."

"Yes, Gus, I promise you can have one of my shirts later. Specifically one my dad gave me yesterday that looks worse than most of his," Shawn replied as Gus started to speak. "Anyway!" he continued, getting back to his vision, "I am getting a very strong feeling that if you look into the boyfriend's coworker, you will find he left on a break, killed Melissa Douglas, and came back like nothing had happened."

Juliet's eyebrows rose as Shawn continued, "And if you look at the security footage from the convenience store, you'll notice that our dear Marco just happened to change his shirt on break, but I doubt it was because he spilled coffee on it. Probably more like blood."

"I think we have some stills from the cameras," Juliet offered, digging through a stack of papers on her desk. Opening a file, she paged through the contents, then looked up. "You're right, Shawn," she said, turning the file towards the others.

"Dude, I was right!" Shawn whispered, offering his fist to Gus behind Juliet's back.

Lassiter reached for the two photographs on the top of the stack and studied the shots. "Let's go, O'Hara. I want to ask this guy some questions." Without another word to Shawn or Gus, he headed for the door.

"Thanks, Shawn," Juliet acknowledged before hurrying after her partner.

"Well, come on, Gus!" Shawn exclaimed. "We can't miss out!"

Gus followed much more reluctantly. "Shawn, shouldn't we just let Lassiter and Juliet take care of this?"

"Gus, don't be that piece of Halloween candy that no one wants to eat. What fun would it be if we let them do it all by themselves?" Shawn grinned. "Now come on; I'll race you!"

Something that felt like worry nagged at him, but he pushed it aside. What were the chances that anything else would go like it had in his dream?

* * *

"Spencer!" Lassiter barked as the two consultants climbed out of Gus' little blue car. "I don't remember asking you to follow us here."

Shawn shook his head. "You didn't have to ask, Lassie. I could see it in your eyes. Besides," he dodged Gus' elbow to the ribs, "I might have another vision, and it's much easier if I'm with you when I do."

"Shawn, we just don't want you to get hurt," Juliet reasoned.

"I won't get hurt," Shawn promised. "I will stay right here by the car and make sure it is between both me and Gus if a crazy man with a gun shows up."

Juliet and Gus gave him a strange look. Lassiter just rolled his eyes and turned to head across the parking lot towards the store entrance.

"Really, Shawn, stay out of the way," Juliet added quickly, following Lassiter.

Shawn looked over at Gus as the two detectives disappeared inside the store.

"Oh no, Shawn," Gus shook his head. "They know what they're doing, and I will not put myself in any unnecessary danger just to watch Lassiter and Juliet arrest a guy."

"But Gus-" Shawn smacked his friend on the arm as a red car pulled into the parking lot. "Gus..."

"What?" Gus looked around.

"That's Marco!" Shawn exclaimed, nodding furiously towards the man's car. "He must have been on break or late for his shift - or maybe he decided to stop for a smoothie on the way. But that's his car!"

Gus had already stepped to the other side of his own vehicle. "Shawn, get down!" he hissed. "I am not watching you get shot again!"

"Technically you didn't watch me get shot," Shawn corrected. "I got shot by myself because you wouldn't answer my call that night."

Gus rolled his eyes. "I am not doing this with you right now! Just hide already! You promised Lassiter and Juliet."

"I'll stay down," Shawn promised, ducking below the Echo's roof. He scooted on his hands and knees to peek around the bumper at Marco's car.

"If I get shot, I am blaming you, Shawn."

"You'll be fine, Gus, I promise," Shawn said distractedly, again looking around the back of the car. He pulled his phone from his pocket, ignoring the looks from the few people fueling their cars at the pumps. "I'm going to call Jules and tell her he just got here."

As his call was dialing, the door to the convenience store swung open and the two detectives exited the small building.

Shawn was still peeking around the car, and he saw Marco freeze as his gaze met Lassiter's. The suspect spun quickly, making his way back across the parking lot towards his vehicle. It was a small lot, and the man was back at his car almost as soon as Lassiter and Juliet had pulled their weapons.

"Marco Gutierrez!" Lassiter bellowed. "SBPD! We need to ask you a few questions!"

"He's got a gun, Lassie!" Shawn yelled.

"How did you know that?" Marco shouted in reply, sounding a little perturbed at Shawn's outburst. "What are you, psychic?"

"Yes!" Shawn returned.

"Shut up, Spencer!" Lassiter snapped. "Gutierrez, surrender your weapon and come out with your hands up!"

"Not a chance!" Marco stood behind the shelter of his car, a black handgun tightly clenched in his hands. "No chance you're just going to leave me alone, right?"

"Put down the gun!" Lassiter commanded.

"You shot Melissa Douglas at close range!" Shawn called, attempting to distract Marco. "From that far, you'll be lucky to hit anything!"

"Shawn, you're not helping!" Juliet called.

"I'd rather take my chances!" Marco pulled the trigger.

Three things happened in the next second. One, the details of his dream came rushing back to Shawn. Two, Lassiter immediately fired in response to Marco's shot. And three, Shawn heard the sound of a bullet _pinging _off of something metal.

Before he had a chance to even think anything else, Shawn felt a burst of white-hot pain explode in his abdomen.

The force of the gunshot knocked him backwards against Gus' car, and Shawn slowly slid to the ground, gasping at the pain.

Somewhere in the background, he could hear another shot and Marco's own cry of pain, then the sound of running feet pounding on the asphalt, but all Shawn could focus on was the all-encompassing pain that he was currently feeling.

Gus' face suddenly appeared in his line of sight. "Shawn!" Gus put a hand to Shawn's face. "Talk to me, buddy!"

Shawn blinked, trying to focus past the fire in his stomach. He managed to grin up at Gus, even though it hurt terribly. "Gus..."

"No, Shawn, don't talk." Gus looked away from Shawn's face for a moment, down towards where Shawn had his hands clenched over his midsection, then swallowed hard and looked back into his friend's eyes. "Juliet's calling for help."

Shawn chuckled, then coughed, wincing at the pain that shot through his entire body. "Good... to hear that." He could feel something warm and wet seeping through his fingers, and he suddenly had that weird deja vu feeling again, although this time it was mixed in with searing pain.

"Shawn, you're going to be fine," Gus interrupted. "Now lie still."

It must have been stronger than just a feeling, because Shawn was slowly losing sight of what was going on around him. His vision grew blurry around the edges and his friend's face began to fade, but before he could voice a protest, he vaguely felt himself falling.

He hardly had time to wonder how he could be falling if he was already on the ground before everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

Shawn jerked awake, his heart pounding.

One look confirmed that he was indeed in his own bed in his own room in his own dry-cleaner's-turned-apartment.

He reached over to where his phone lay on the nightstand. It was in the same place he had left it earlier that morning when he had finally stumbled into bed after his impromptu marathon. He frowned at it, noting that it lay strangely still and silent.

Reaching over, he tapped the screen. 9:25am.

Shawn raised an eyebrow.

Maybe that was a good sign. Maybe he had been dreaming every time Gus called him, and now he was actually awake.

But maybe he was still dreaming. There was every chance that Leonardo DiCaprio was still messing with his head.

Not that he had met any strange men in suits lately, but there was no way to be certain.

Well, there was one way to find out. And while Shawn didn't have the time to find a bridge, he could just as well fall off his bed. That would definitely give him a falling sensation, and it might be enough to wake him up.

Just as Shawn was leaning forward to topple off the mattress however, his phone began vibrating on the nightstand. The sudden noise of the phone combined with his nerves which were already on edge, and Shawn landed in a heap on the floor.

"Ouch!" He rubbed his head, which had collided with the carpet rather unceremoniously. Well, if he was unsure before, he was almost positive now that this was actually reality. After all, he hadn't woken up during his fall, and the floor had felt quite real.

Then again, so had the bullets the last two times he'd lived that morning...

His phone continued its insistent demand to be answered, so Shawn reached up and grabbed it from where it had just come to rest against his shirt. Sure enough, Gus' name and picture was displayed across the screen.

Shawn rubbed his head as he answered. "Gus! Buddy, you won't believe this!"

"Shawn-"

"I know," Shawn interrupted, "you're upset because I was supposed to meet you at the office this morning to go over the case. I'm sorry; I got caught up in a _Sherlock_ marathon last night."

"You're right, Shawn, I am upset. Wait, you were watching _Sherlock_?" Gus sounded irritated "Why didn't you invite me? You know I can't resist Martin Freeman's face!"

"I know you can't, and I'm sorry." Shawn retrieved his shoes from under the bed and now stood, putting the phone on speaker as he did so. "Oh, and guess what? I solved the murder!"

"Shawn-"

"I don't know if it was Jared Padalecki's sweet, sweet hair or Gabriel Macht's stunning fashion sense that showed me the light, but I know who killed Melissa Douglas!" Shawn continued

"What? I thought you said you were watching _Sherlock_." Gus sounded confused.

Shawn paused from pulling on a pair of socks. "I was. I may have also watched some other stuff. Sorry, my mind is all mixed up from these crazy dreams I had. I'll tell you about them later."

"Shawn-" Gus tried again.

"Look, right now, I need you to meet me at the station so I can have a vision," Shawn concluded.

"Fine," Gus sighed, giving up. "But this better be worth it, Shawn!"

"Oh, it will be," Shawn promised. "I'll see you in a few minutes!"

* * *

Within fifteen minutes of their phone conversation, Shawn and Gus were walking into the Santa Barbara police station together.

"Gus, please, can we get off the topic of my not being at the office this morning? I told you, I had a weird night."

"Oh right; let's see, you stayed up way too late watching television, you had a strange dream, and you overslept," Gus ticked the points off on his fingers. "Which made you _late_. I had to call you to get you up, Shawn."

"I was already up!"

"Spencer!" Lassiter interrupted, looking up from his computer as he heard the two approaching. "This had better be good. I have better things to be doing with my morning, or haven't you heard there's a murderer on the loose?"

"I heard," Shawn assured him quickly. "And don't worry; McNab is on his way with your coffee."

The others just looked at him for a moment, then Juliet spoke up.

"Gus said you'd had a vision?" she prompted.

"Yes, I did! Thank you for calling and telling, Gus. I appreciate them being here so I could tell them what I've divined."

"Shawn, are you okay?" Gus asked.

"Spencer..." Lassiter threatened.

"Yes, Gus, I'm fine. And yes, Lassie, I am getting to the point." Shawn held a hand to his head. "Oh, I'm getting something else! I'm getting... Not younger, no, and no hoops, but I am seeing Melissa Douglas! And a man with a gun!"

"Well we knew that much, Spencer," Lassiter muttered. "Now stop yelling. I have work to do."

"But wait!" Shawn exclaimed. "The man with the gun is not the boyfriend!" Shawn suddenly turned and grabbed Gus before the other man could protest or avoid him. "Gus, stand right over here!"

Just as Shawn pulled Gus to the other side of their small group, McNab hurried up to the group, carefully balancing a steaming cup of coffee.

"Here's your coffee, Detective!" The officer set the cup on Lassiter's desk. "Three creams, four sugars, just like you asked."

"Thank you, McNab," Lassiter waved him off, keeping an eye on Shawn as the other man continued.

"Now I don't owe you a shirt, Gus!" Shawn exclaimed, then continued before anyone could say anything. "I am getting a very strong feeling that if you look into the boyfriend's coworker, you will find he left on a break, killed Melissa Douglas, and came back like nothing had happened. Check the stills you have from the security footage; he changed his shirt."

Juliet grabbed a file from her desk, which she opened, then turned for Lassiter to see. "You're right, Shawn," she remarked.

"Of course I am," Shawn grinned. "Now, Marco is not at his job right now, but he will be in..." he looked at the clock on the wall, "twenty minutes. I suggest we go wait for him and then arrest him for murder!"

"No, O'Hara and I will go. You two stay put," Lassiter instructed.

"Please, Lassie? We'll be good," Shawn promised.

The head detective just rolled his eyes and turned for the doors. Juliet gave Shawn and Gus a small smile as she hurried after her partner.

A moment after they had left, Shawn turned to Gus. "Race you?"

There was no way he was missing this ending. With any luck, it would not include him being shot.

* * *

"Spencer!" Lassiter barked as the two consultants climbed out of Gus' little blue car. "I don't remember asking you to follow us here."

"We didn't follow; we knew the way here by ourselves," Shawn defended. "And we totally would have beat you if it weren't for that traffic jam."

"Uh-huh."

Lassiter rolled his eyes. "Just stay here, all right, Spencer?"

"But Marco's car isn't-"

Just as Shawn was about to point out the fact that their suspect was not even there yet, the small red sedan pulled into the parking lot.

Shawn raised an eyebrow. "Well, never mind."

"Spencer, stay put," Lassiter instructed.

Marco had not seemed to notice any of the four people gathered in the parking lot, at least not until he had shut his car door and rounded the back of the vehicle.

Then he noticed, and he froze as his gaze met Lassiter's.

"There he goes again!" Shawn exclaimed as the suspect spun back to his car. "Marco! Come back!" he called, waving both arms above his head.

"Shawn!" Juliet and Gus exclaimed together.

"Shut up, Spencer!" Lassiter added. "And stay back. Marco Gutierrez!" he bellowed. "SBPD! We need to ask you a few questions!"

Shawn could barely see Marco's head through the window of the car, but he knew what the man was doing. "He's got a gun in there."

The others looked at him strangely, but Lassiter added, "And don't think about touching your weapon!"

"What are you, psychic?" Marco yelled from the other side of his car.

"No, but I am!" Shawn yelled back. "And I know you don't want to hurt anybody! Well... maybe you do. But you don't want to hurt these guys. They're cops!"

"Oh yeah?" Marco returned. "Maybe I do!"

"Shawn, be quiet!" Juliet exclaimed quietly.

"You're only making things harder for yourself!" Lassiter shouted over the others.

"I get what you're thinking, Marco!" Shawn yelled. "I know you'd do anything for your friend. But you killed his girlfriend and that's going to put you in jail! Do you really want to add shooting at police consultants and cops to your list?"

"Spencer, shut up now!" Lassiter snapped. "I'm serious. And I'm serious with you, Gutierrez! Put the gun down!"

"Not a chance!" Marco replied, straightening up with a black handgun clenched tightly in his hands.

"Okay, look!" Shawn finally yelled, stepping away from Gus, who kept motioning for Shawn to shush. "I have lived this day twice already! I don't know if it was a vision or a dream due to that pizza last night or what. But I've seen this end before! And every time, you end up shot and arrested! So just do yourself a favor and turn yourself in now!"

In the pause following Shawn's speech, Marco yelled back, "I'd rather take my chances!" and pulled the trigger.

Several things happened in the next second. One, Lassiter and Juliet immediately fired in response to Marco's shot. Two, Gus screamed. Three, Shawn felt something impact with his shoulder, jerking him backwards onto the pavement. And four... well, he wasn't sure what four was, because after that, he lost track of everything else.

"Shawn!" Gus was beside him, a worried look on his face as he pulled off his blazer. "Shawn, are you okay?"

Shawn just groaned as his friend applied pressure to his shoulder, which currently felt like it was on fire. "I think I hit my head."

"Yeah, and you also got shot!" Gus sounded close to panicking.

"Right. That too." Shawn winced. "Stop touching..." His vision was starting to blur at the pain, and he was beginning to have trouble thinking straight. "Stop..." He swatted at his friend's hands but only succeeded in flailing at the air.

Juliet's face suddenly appeared in his vision. "Shawn!"

"Jules..." Shawn blinked. He had the feeling that he needed to say something in response, to let her know he was really okay, so he said the first thing that popped into his spinning head. "You're really pretty."

A smile flickered on her face for just a moment, then the worried expression took over again. "I called for an ambulance; they should be here shortly."

Shawn blinked up at the sky, watching the clouds floating by. Funny how they just kept going, regardless of what was happening on the ground below. Then the sky began to grow dark, and Shawn briefly wondered where the stars were.

A sharp pain suddenly stung against his cheek, and his eyes flew open. "Hey!" he mumbled.

"Do not fall asleep on me, Shawn!" Juliet ordered, her face inches from his. "You have to stay awake."

Shawn was still on his previous thought. "You... you hit me, Jules..."

"Yes, I hit you, Shawn." Juliet shared a look with Gus. "You have to stay with us."

"Oh..." The sky was blue again. "Wasn't... wasn't it just night?" he mumbled.

Someone's voice was back in his ear. "Shawn!"

Shawn turned his head slightly, wincing at the pain that shot through it. "Gus, you're too loud," he complained.

"Come on, Shawn; you need to stay awake. The ambulance will be here soon." Gus paused as he searched for something to use. "And then you're calling your dad, because I certainly am not."

Shawn furrowed his brow. "You wouldn't do that to me, Gus..."

"Oh wouldn't I?" Gus raised an eyebrow.

"You better not..." Shawn couldn't resist the argument, but his reasoning was starting to fade. "Wait, why do we need to call my dad?"

Just then, the wailing of sirens broke into their conversation. Shawn groaned and shut his eyes.

"Jules... It's too loud," he whined.

"I know; I'm sorry, Shawn." She patted his good hand.

Shawn was fairly certain he had the perfect reply somewhere in his brain, but everything was getting very fuzzy all of a sudden. Someone shone a light in his eye and started asking him questions.

He made a noise of frustration and tried to push the offending hand away. He only managed to jostle his wounded arm, however, and he hissed in pain. All he wanted to do at the moment was go to sleep. Why wouldn't they leave him alone?

Someone was asking him a question, and he frowned, unable to make out what they were saying. His head was spinning and the only thing he knew was that he didn't want to wake up to the same day all over again.

He shut his eyes and let the noises around him fade away, ignoring the protesting voices.


	4. Chapter 4

The first thing Shawn heard when he woke was an insistent buzzing.

It took him a moment to remember what had happened, and he groaned. It had happened. How many times was he expected to live this day? Whatever the lesson he was supposed to learn, he wished a grumpy ghost would just show up and whack him over the head with it. Fewer bullets would be very nice.

Maybe he could get Jules to let him have a bulletproof vest this time around. It probably wouldn't do any good if a ghost did show up, but Shawn was pretty sure it would help with the whole getting-shot-every-time-he-relived-the-day part.

The buzzing stopped, and Shawn breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe, just maybe, it was just something he was imagining in his half-awake haze. Maybe, _just maybe_, the day wasn't really repeating itself.

As he lay still, hoping it would all go away, he slowly became aware of a myriad of other sounds around him. The worst was an incessant beeping near his right ear, but there were also several lower beeps and what sounded like... was that a chainsaw?

That couldn't be right. Who would have a chainsaw in his bedroom anyway? And what was that beeping? It was starting to drive him nuts.

He felt a little light-headed too, now that he thought about it, although he couldn't for the life of him think of what was going on.

Well, he wasn't going to get any answers just lying there with his eyes shut, so Shawn reluctantly opened them and looked around. He blinked, then his eyes widened as he took in the room.

He was not in his apartment, but rather, in a hospital room. The various beeping noises he could hear were emanating from several machines standing near his bed, and the chainsaw noise was not, in fact, that of a chainsaw. Instead, the noise was coming from a sound asleep Gus who was sprawled in a chair next to the bed.

Shawn grinned and shifted against his pillows. One of the machines took offense at the motion and sped up its beeping, raising its volume as it did so.

"Shh!" Shawn told it, then giggled. He was talking to a machine. How ridiculous.

Hmm, they must have given him a good dose of painkillers... That was the most reasonable explanation, because he was certainly quite loopy.

He looked back over at his best friend, pondering the best way to wake him up. He was considering screaming very loudly when a voice broke into his thoughts.

"Shawn." The voice was low, but it still was enough to make Shawn jump.

Shawn turned towards the other side of his bed, where Henry was sitting in another chair, elbows propped on his knees.

"Hey, Dad," Shawn greeted, grinning lopsidedly. "Didn't see you there. Been here long?"

Raising his eyebrows, Henry nodded. "Almost as long as you have. Gus called me right after the ambulance picked you up."

Shawn shifted his position again, and the machine again started beeping annoyingly. Shawn glared at it.

"Shawn," Henry quietly interrupted the lecture Shawn was about to give the offending device, "why don't you just lie back, okay? You've just been through surgery, and you're obviously still doped up."

"Why, Dad," Shawn grinned again. "I didn't know you cared so much."

"No, I just want you to get better as quickly as possible because I am not spending any more money than necessary on this hospital stay," Henry replied, rolling his eyes.

Shawn wanted to retort, but for some reason his brain wasn't cooperating. "Okay," he finally managed, settling back against the pillows. He shut his eyes for a minute, then cracked them open again. "Hey, Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Never mind." Shawn wasn't about to admit he'd forgotten what he had wanted to say. "Good night."

"Night, Shawn." Henry watched until Shawn drifted off again, then settled back in his own chair, prepared to watch over his son until Gus woke up again.


End file.
